


Three Can Keep A Secret, If ...

by Aoife



Category: Honor Harrington Series - David Weber
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Book: Ashes of Victory, Book: Echoes of Honor, Canon Temporary Character Death, Era: the First Havenite-Manticoran War, F/F, Posthumous Reproduction, Secret Marriage, Surprisingly Canon Compliant, Vignettes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-25
Updated: 2014-12-27
Packaged: 2017-12-24 14:40:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/941181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aoife/pseuds/Aoife
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Michelle and Honor had a secret. Secrets have consequences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Secret is revealed to one more person

**Author's Note:**

> Goes AU from the point during Echoes of Honor when Howard Clinkscales tries to ask Allison if she and Alfred would have another child to inherit the Harrington Key.
> 
> Primary continuity is maintained (all major canon events will/have occurr/ed unless otherwise specified) except for a portion of the Honor side of the Hamish/Honor storyline.

Allison burst out laughing. 

Howard looked at her in puzzlement and the Beowulfan pulled the contents of a post-dated and previously encrypted message packet she’d been viewing privately up on screen and set it playing where Howard could listen as well. 

"Momma, if you're watching this, then I'm ... I'm dead. And you need to talk to Mike. I left other versions of this message with Mike. I expect you’ll need them later when certain facts aren’t politically convenient. But this one ... this one is just for you. Because you and papa deserve to know everything - and if you’re watching this, Mike agrees because she’s the only one authorized to release these messages - and I gave her absolute discretion, Momma.” 

“Momma, Mike and I have been Mike and I in _that way_ for a _very_ long time," there was a gleam in Honor's eyes, "and I dearly hope it was a surprise given how hard we worked to keep ourselves hidden. But Mike will explain all of that for you, eventually. The important bit that you need to know about right now is that if you're watching this there are a set of our embryos at Gran'ma's clinic on Beowulf, with permission for you and papa to assist Mike in their posthumous use. Someone needs to go file for immediate custody of them with the appropriate authorities on Beowulf. And unfortunately it’s all too likely that Mike is going to be unable to do so quickly enough herself to prevent any future questions as to the embryos _origins_. I know you, Momma; this is what you specialize in. You’ll pardon me for trading shamelessly on that fact at this particular moment." 

Allison cut the playback of the message.

Clinkscales looked at her. "How did I miss - why didn't she - _my lady_." Mentally reeling from the implications, his voice was a little plaintive.

"Breathe, Howard," Allison's voice was gentle. "And in partial answer to your questions - we'll have to ask Michelle but I'm guessing that it started off as Honor protecting Michelle's reputation and wanting to _earn_ her place in the Navy rather than be gifted it for the Wintons' sake. It may also have been an attempt to shield her from Pavel Young - and the Conservative Lords - attempts to evict my daughter from her native environment. Once Benjamin _offered_ her the Steadholdership - well there was another layer of secrecy until they could work out what to do about the Grayson complication - And now that I know about this, it makes me wonder whether Paul was their first attempt at a solution to that. What would have happened on Grayson before her death if they had gone public? You have to admit that your society isn’t exactly arranged in such a way as to be accepting of exclusively and publicly visible homosexual relationships."

Howard paled as Allison made the implicit, explicit for him. He visibly took a deep breath before replying. "We are guilty as charged, my lady. That does sound rather like the way in which Lady Harrington would have looked at this situation. My apologies. It had become so easy sometimes to forget that she was not raised as one of us." He straightened his shoulders, and Allison's respect for him went up just a notch as he looked her in the eye and she could see no sign of discomfort in his expression. "You're sure Captain Tankersley wasn't just a cover ?"

Allison considered the question for a moment before answering, thinking back on her late daughter’s behaviour where the captain had been concerned and trying to view it more objectively in light of the knowledge she now possessed. "As sure as I can be without - um - interrogating Michelle. Remember, Howard, it was Mike who introduced the two of them, and coaxed them both through courting each other. And whatever was going on, was something with which all of the 'cats my daughter was surrounded with were comfortable with or the ‘cats would have blown their little secret long before this. Come to think of it, I suppose I should also interrogate some of the ‘cats about what they knew. I suspect they’ve known about this and been aiding my daughter in keeping it hidden. It’d be interesting to know why."

"I ... I need to talk to the Protector." Howard looked uncomfortable at the mention of the Protector and for a moment Allison truly empathized with him. She did not envy him needing to disclose this mess to Benjamin Mayhew. It would have been a can of worms regardless, but on a planet like Grayson, it was made all the more so by generations of ingrained cultural bias.

"For what it's worth, Howard, my daughter - no, my daughters - were trying, I believe, to handle this as best as they could without handing Benjamin either a constitutional or a religious crisis. But Mike _is_ the daughter of a Princess - and the Wintons know about succession issues. I believe that the two of them must have truly loved each other. I’ll need to talk to her, but I suspect that Mike will want as much of Honor’s legacy as Honor was able - and willing - to leave behind. She’ll deal with the fallout if that’s the price she has to pay."

"Understood, my lady." 

She shut down the console as Howard levered himself out of a comfortable chair and made a rapid attempt to escape her presence. Allison didn’t bother with the courtesies of showing him out. She was too preoccupied by the thoughts swirling through her own head and from the look of it, Howard himself was preoccupied enough not to care.

_How did I not see this, Honor? How long have you been married to Mike - you haven't been to Beowulf together since before that mess at Basilisk - were these frozen maybe-grandchildren of mine Jacques' reward to you for that mess at Casimir? Much as I am grateful for what you’ve left us, I’m going to strangle my darling brother if he knew about this -_

Allison raised one eyebrow at the Regent's escaping back, and then touched a button on her wrist comm.

"Miranda, I need the _Paul Tankersley_ , prepared for rapid departure - Beowulf by way of Manticore." She tapped her lightpen thoughtfully, then smiled wickedly, remembering other parts of Honor's posthumous message. "Warn Brigadier Hill that I will need two details from the Steadholder's Own for possible long-term detachments."

Miranda's eyes widened, but Allison shook her head and brushed her finger along her lips.

"Of course, my lady."

Allison disconnected the call.

"It’s your game now, Benjamin. I hope you prove yourself worthy of the faith my daughter’s placed in you. And heaven help you if you don’t."


	2. Benjamin is Informed

Benjamin watched the message from Harrington Steading silently, lips pursed, before replaying it again, and shaking his head. 

"Where is Doctor Harrington now?" He turned his head to look at his own senior armsman. The stocky man in Mayhew maroon and gold didn't blink but touched his earbud, whispering a discrete query into it.

"Aboard Lady Harrington's yacht. The flight plan has them heading for Beowulf via Manticore."

He smiled, a little ruefully. “Providing she actually has Harrington armsmen with her, -” he raised an eyebrow, questioningly, at his armsman who nodded. “- ask Command Central to provide expedited clearances and pass along my blessings for her safe journey. And let’s see if they can shake loose an escort for the _Tankersley_.”

The armsman looked puzzled at the Protector’s need to provide such a visible sign of his support, but relayed the message nonetheless. 

_Well played, Allison. It’s a fine mess you’ve dumped in my lap. But one which I admit we are richly deserving of. It’s high time the Conclave addressed some of these issues. Your daughter has once again simply forced the timing of something which I already desired addressing for my own kin’s sake. While I certainly wish she’d chosen a different way of doing so, I’m not going to throw away the gift she’s given me - I refuse to fail this last test._


	3. Allison visits Beowulf

Allison shouldn’t have been surprised to find Jacques waiting for her at the shuttleport. She arched one thin eyebrow at him as he handed her into the ground transport, and waved two BSC stingships into the air as escorts before joining her in the vehicle.

She settled into the corner opposite him. “I assume one of the messages Honor had Mike sent went to you?”

“No. But there’s only one thing that could bring you to Beowulf with that many of Honor’s armsmen in tow right now, Ally, -”

Allison’s mouth pinched into a dissatisfied mou. “I suppose it is rather obvious if you know what you’re looking for.”

“Don’t go getting angry at her now,” Jacques retorted firmly. “You’re the one who was always trying to find her someone to be happy with, Ally. Can’t you just accept that she did and be happy for them both, even if she chose not to tell you about it at the time?”

“Was I really such a tyrant that she couldn’t tell me, Jacques?”

"I don’t think it had anything to do with that. You wouldn’t have been able to resist telling. They couldn’t afford that. Or at least, they certainly thought they couldn’t. And can you honestly say that the caution they used was unwarranted?" The sharp look she gave her twin didn’t get him to back off one bit. "There are going to be whispers about the two of them within the Navy, Ally, about their behaviour on _Nike_ \- anywhere they served together for that matter - and vicious rumours about what the Wintons' plans for Harrington Steading might be. Especially now with Honor safely and heroically dead, this is going to be a complicated mess to untangle for not just one but two worlds. Can you honestly blame her for having done her level best to avoid it all while she was still alive?"

“No,” she leaned back, closing her eyes, and for the first time Jacques noticed how much older she looked. “I just wish I’d known. Wish I’d had the chance to share their joy with them. To have known she was as happy as you say she was while she was still alive. The daughter I’ve been able to see through these messages and plans she’s made is a woman I don’t know. How did I miss it, Jacques? How did I miss her having learned all these hard lessons about the world?”

“The same way our parents missed us learning the same lessons, Ally.”

“But she was always so stubborn, so adamant about not playing the political game by their rules. How did I not know that she’d been so astute as to have learned to use it when she needed to? I’ve missed so much about her, haven’t I? There’s an entire other person hiding behind the awkward little girl I knew.”

“Let Michelle teach you about her, Ally.” He persisted gently and this time, Allison could see it for the peace offering it was.

The vehicle came to a quiet stop at a very familiar building, and one of the pack of overgrown adolescent boys with pulsers whom she’d dutifully brought with her opened the door to help her out of the vehicle.

“You, Michelle, you both knew my daughter so much more than I did. Don’t mind me, Jacques. I’m feeling sorry for myself. Regretful of having not been the kind of person she could have trusted with these secrets in life. I suppose though that I should be grateful that she at least trusted me enough to execute her wishes in death.”

“Enough, Ally,” he admonished. “Come on. We’ve got your grandchildren-to-be to retrieve.”


	4. On Manticore; King Michael's Tower

Michelle Henke met Allison at the landing pad looking exhausted and gaunt, her pristine uniform looking looser on her body than it had just a few weeks earlier when she’d borne the Harrington Sword at Honor’s State funeral on Manticore.  

Obedient to the society into which her daughter’s rank and actions had plunged her, the armsmen whom Allison had brought with her quietly fanned out around them.  Several stepped sideways, attaching themselves unobtrusively to their Steadholder’s widow.  Allison smiled to herself at their discrete movements.

Michelle led her through the Palace to King Michael’s tower; the Wintons’ private retreat and somewhere Honor had mentioned having visited in the past. At the very least, the younger woman had maintained the presence of mind to get herself detailed to act as escort for Allison’s visit to the Palace.  Allison was _uncomfortably_ familiar with how much one clung to one’s dignity in public.  For now, she would not strip her daughter-in-law of that last defense.  There would be time for shared tears, for interrogating her to learn more of this facet of her daughter’s life about which she’d never known, later.

The Queen’s Own guard waved her through with only a flicker of their eyes, permitting the armed Graysons to enter along with their charges.  Watching the practiced control with which the guards allowed their entry, Allison contemplated precisely what Honor - or Elizabeth - must have said to them about the Grayson armsmen and why it still held after her daughter’s death.   Yet again, she was struck by this previously hidden facet of her daughter, this politically aware creature who had so deftly manipulated both her own and her adoptive worlds to bow to her needs.

Inside the tower, the Queen relaxed comfortably awaiting her arrival.

“What brings you back to Landing, Dr. Harrington?” 

Although she didn’t show it, Elizabeth was faintly surprised and then bemused as her bodyguards were forced to tolerate the presence of more than just the usual solitary Harrington Steading armsman.  

The Queen puzzled over this variation from the previously held protocol until she realised; it was misdirection.  The Harrington armsmen had two principles present: Dr Chou-Harrington, and her own cousin.  Well that certainly made things interesting.  History, like puzzle pieces, suddenly shifted into place to draw a much broader picture.  Incidents which Elizabeth had previously dismissed as teenagers’ experimentation, had thought cooled into a close and comfortable friendship, suddenly became something far more profound and long lasting.  And despite one of them being her own cousin, the two women involved had felt it necessary to hide it - and had done so successfully from their own families and her intelligence services.  

Quickly calculating the potential ramifications, Elizabeth agreed; theirs had been the wiser part.  Having come to that conclusion, now Elizabeth was faced not only with the sudden and unexpected demise of one of her favorite Navy officers but with her cousin’s grief and the ensuing political headache.

Allison’s eyes flickered to Ariel on the back of the Queen’s chair and the ‘cat nodded, giving her the courage to be blunt. 

“My daughter-in-law and my grandchildren, your Majesty.” 

Mike’s posture stiffened slightly where she stood and Elizabeth turned to face her, nodding fractionally to the armsman hovering behind Mike. 

“For god’s sake, Mike, sit down before you fall down.” 

Mike sat down gingerly at her cousin’s words and Elizabeth sighed. 

“Why didn’t you say something, Mike? Why didn’t you beg off carrying Honor’s sword at her funeral?”

“What was I suppose to say?” Mike asked bitterly. “With only my word, until you let me out of the Palace long enough to go and get the evidence from Beowulf the logical accusation for anyone to make is that I’m trying to steal Harrington Steading.  Or if they’re vindictive, they’ll charge me under Article One-Nineteen.”

Elizabeth’s senior bodyguard started to say something, and then shut her mouth with a click.

“That was Jacques’ evaluation of some of the insinuations they’d make, but -” Allison smiled apologetically at Michelle. “I told Howard that you’d be willing to deal with _all_ of it, for the sake of what Honor left for you in a clinic on Beowulf, Mike. Otherwise you’d have sent me one of the other versions of Honor’s message.”

“Yes, but -” Mike rubbed the back of her neck and laughed sheepishly. “Honor’s rubbed off me.  To ask it bluntly; I hope you’ve thought about the potential complications and not just having grandchildren, Doctor Harrington?”

“Allison, please, dear. I suggest that you leave Benjamin and Howard to deal with the consequences for Grayson. I left them contemplating the subject while I came to deal with matters here and on Beowulf.  ” She smiled beatifically “I will admit that there is a tiny part of me that hopes that this might kill off one or two of the more conservative members of the Keys.  But Michelle, no matter what I might or might not want, my daughter’s message made it very clear; nothing happens that you don’t want.”

“Beth?” There was a myriad of questions wrapped up in that one question between the cousins.

“If you want this, Mike, I’m the last person who is going to say no. At least this time.”

“Mama’s going to have fits,” Mike muttered as if it were a weak last stand.

“You reached your majority decades ago, Mike.  It’s time your mother came to grips with that and I’ve absolutely no compunction against rubbing her nose in it a bit along the way,” Elizabeth smiled impishly, her features becoming unexpectedly child-like in conspiracy with her cousin. “Go to Grayson, play with the Harrington 'kittens, and heal your heart, Mike. You deserve a bit of happiness.  Just leave the documents in my hands to prove your marriage valid and I’ll sort everything out here. It’s the least I can do for you - and Honor.”


	5. Lady Stephanie Elizabeth Henke-Harrington

William Alexander chuckled to himself and glanced at his brother. White Haven was seated with High Admiral Matthews at the Protector's own table—a mark of the high esteem in which the conqueror of Masada was held here in Grayson. At the moment, his head was turned as he addressed a remark to the exquisitely beautiful woman seated with her towering husband between himself and Katherine Mayhew. Alexander had been introduced to both Doctors Harrington the day before, and he'd been astonished to realize that someone Lady Harrington's size could have had so tiny a mother. And, he admitted, as he chatted with her and discovered the razor-sharp wit of the woman behind that beautiful face, he'd found himself extremely envious of Dr. Alfred Harrington's good fortune.

He’d known that Michelle Henke was on Grayson as some sort of complicated favour between Elizabeth and Benjamin. but her presence in civilian garb at the Protector’s own table was a puzzle for which he was obviously lacking several of the keys. Hamish had mentioned that the Queen’s cousin had been based at Harrington Steading. But the way in which the Harrington armsman hovered behind her as attentively as if Michelle herself was his Steadholder presented William Alexander with yet more questions to add to his ever growing pile. Obviously there was something going on. 

As his brother, Hamish, was engrossed in discussion with Howard Clinkscales, William contemplated trying to catch the attention of Michelle’s father, Edward Henke. But the other minister was further down the table engrossed in his own meal. Before he’d had opportunity to further consider the conundrum, Protector Benjamin struck his fork against the wine glass. The sound rung through the room, demanding people’s attention even as the Protector rose to his feet. He paused, waiting till the murmurs were quiet and cleared his throat.

“Lords and Ladies, Ladies and Gentlemen," William envied Benjamin, the ease with which he projected his voice out over the assemblage. The Protector’s carefully modulated tones showing years of training without making it so obvious as to rub his listener’s noses in the privilege of his birth. It was a trick that William himself had never mastered despite years of coaching. "I enticed you all to join me with the promise that this would not be a working dinner, that you would not have to withstand the tedium of rhetoric and speeches to which we’re all so exposed throughout the day as members of the Conclave." A muted chuckle rolled across the room, Benjamin’s voice modulated perfectly so as to continue being audible over the amused din of his audience’s response. One corner of William’s mouth twitched upward in an appreciative smile. Yes, the man had training and style aplenty. "But now I beg your indulgence everyone as there are two announcements which I feel it would be all too fitting to make at this time.”

Benjamin’s expression turned somber and he waited as the assembled guests took note of this turn and quieted, the room falling back into the attentive silence which had been first invoked by that oh so genteel chiming of crystal.

"First," he said, "Wesley has informed me that the Admiralty will be naming our newest superdreadnought - the lead ship of her class - the GNS Honor Harrington. I am deeply honored to announce that Captain Henke has agreed to christen her in our service." Benjamin turned, and dipped a small bow in Michelle Henke's direction, increasing Willie’s confusion. He would have expected that duty to have fallen to Honor’s parents. 

There was a spatter of applause at first. William Alexander looked down the table to see that several men in the uniform of the Grayson Navy had come to their feet. What had begun as a sincere but polite acknowledgement swelled as others around the table stood. Men, then women rising to their feet in a cascading torrent of sound that echoed eerily like thunder across the Great Hall The cacophony beat at William’s ears, reverberating through his bones. There was something else; a dark, hungry, feral thing riding beneath the ovation’s surface. It reminded him of nothing so much as the unseen side of the treecats, the one which few humans ever witnessed that was red of tooth and claw. Something primal deep inside William’s brain shivered at the unbidden comparison between the emotion he saw on the faces of the men and women around him to the unedited version of the footage of Monroe and Nimitz’s lethal defense of their respective humans. His brother’s assessment of Grayson’s reaction to Dame Harrington’s murder had been all too accurate. The Protector’s people, _her_ people, were a pistol loaded and primed waiting for nothing more than to be presented with a valid target on which to unleash their fury.

Benjamin waited with grim patience until the crowd’s roar abated. Gesturing the assembled host to take their seats once more, he smiled. But this time, the expression held a hint of mischief, a minutely superior quirk of a man about to play a supremely funny joke. 

“You should have waited,” Benjamin admonished the crowd before giving a nod to the unobtrusive Harrington armsman stationed nearby. 

The armsman raised his wrist and spoke into his wrist-comm, and a side door opened, admitting a young woman carrying a squirming bundle swaddled in the jade green better known as Harrington green, trailed by another pair of Harrington armsmen. 

“My second announcement was originally going to be that Captain Henke had informed my senior wife of the viability of her surrogate pregnancy, carried in accordance with a historic agreement between herself and the late Steadholder Harrington,” Benjamin took the baby from the nursemaid, and handled her with the confidence born of experienced parenthood, “but Miss Harrington decided that she was going to put in a premature appearance. So, Lords and Ladies, Ladies and Gentlemen, as a proven child of Lady Harrington’s blood, it gives me great pleasure to present to you Miss Stephanie Elizabeth Henke-Harrington, Steadholder Harrington!”.

If the previous applause had been a thing terrifying in its ferocity, the joyful uproar of delight with which the assembled crowd greeted this announcement brought William to his feet as well, stomping and whooping his approval in what appeared to be Grayson’s accepted fashion of approval. The clamor was as exultant and jubilant as the previous one had been darkly threatening. At the head of the table, Benjamin indicated for Michelle Henke to rise so he could hand, what must be, William realised, from the glimpse he’d caught, her genetic daughter to her. The Captain’s cheeks colored at the crowd’s acceptance and recognition despite her dark skin, but the flush faded quickly as the Protector formally presented the woman with her daughter. Both the Protector and Captain Henke rose another couple notches in William Alexander’s esteem as he observed the results of what must have been a very carefully planned and executed dance with Grayson public opinion many months in the making. Finally all the puzzle pieces fit. 

Noticing the tiny tug of smug satisfaction at the corner of Allison Chou-Harrington’s lips, William added her to that list, knowing well the role which the respected doctor must have played in this little game. He scanned the rest of the Protector’s table as the applause continued to echo through the hall. A flash of _something_ on Hamish’s face momentarily concerned William as his older brother took his turn personally congratulating Michelle. But short of involving his sister-in-law and her and Michelle’s mutual cousin, he had no idea what to do about that.

As the applause began to fade, another man, absurdly young looking in the uniform of a Grayson Admiral, stood up at the table beside the Protector. "Your Grace!" he cried, and Benjamin turned to look at him.

"Admiral Yanakov?" the Protector asked, caught off guard by the admiral addressing him directly as Benjamin has been distracted by the tiny Miss Harrington.

"With your permission, Your Grace, I would like to propose a toast.” 

Benjamin considered him for just a moment, and then nodded.

"My Lords and Ladies, Ladies and Gentlemen. I give you Miss Stephanie Elizabeth Henke-Harrington, the new Steadholder Harrington . . . and damnation to the Peeps!"

The Graysons’ answering roar should by rights have brought the far distant Peeps themselves to their knees.


	6. Chapter 6

"What _did_ they do with my Steading, Earl White Haven?" Honor asked cautiously, when the Manticoran paused talking for long enough for her to get a word in edgewise.

He swallowed. "Everything that happened on Grayson unfolded according to your own - um - plan, Admiral." 

Honor's mind raced - Manticore didn't allow for - she paled, and turned back to her armsman. "Andrew, is there a precedent -" she fumbled, and then plunged onwards, "- is there a precedent for a child conceived prior to one's death inheriting one's Steading?"

Andrew paled and shot her a look which demanded explanation. "At least two - including one in the Protectorship itself."

"Oh my." She settled back in the shuttle chair and turned to White Haven's Grayson flag lieutenant. "So tell me, Lieutenant, how has Grayson taken to Miss Harrington and her mother in my absence?"

The young man coughed.

"Miss Harrington has everyone wrapped around her little fingers, Steadholder."

"I bet she does." Honor rubbed the dead side of her face absent-mindedly with one hand. "What about -" 

White Haven shook his head, drawing her focus off his flag lieutenant much to the younger man’s relief. The spike of emotion which accompanied the gesture puzzled Honor. The bitter metallic taste of regret. The richly earthy scent of guilt. And envy. She rolled them around inside, sampling, trying to determine why the earl would feel so intense and conflicted about something in which he was not personally involved. 

Shaking off the conundrum for which she had no answers, Honor turned her attention instead to one for which she did. Or at least, for which her armsman did.

"Andrew, you still know Benjamin better than most. How badly have I stepped on my sword with him?"

"Personally or publically, my lady?" He asked, shrewd mischief dancing in grey eyes. She knew the man was sharp. The mischief let her know that while she’d been interrogating the lieutenant and Earl White Haven, he must have worked through what had happened. And now that she was feeling so comfortable, her armsman had every intention of playing cat and mouse with her, trying to take her down a peg in revenge for the headache she’d dumped on their Protector’s shoulders.

"Publically first, Andrew." 

Her armsman slanted a look at the only one of his countrymen within earshot. "Had Michael brought his partner home to Grayson before the announcement about Miss Harrington was made, Lieutenant?" 

Honor raised an eyebrow at the pointed but seemingly off topic question about the Protector’s younger brother.

"He did, Major." 

Andrew nodded, then, pierced Honor with that same pointed look. "Given I've been with you since -" he shook his head. "Let me try that again, My Lady. You have been married to Commander Henke since before you were even offered the Steadholdership, haven’t you?" 

Hamish Alexander twisted round in his seat, fascinated despite having had every intention of pretending to ignore the conversation.

"Since before even my formal commission into the Royal Navy, Andrew." Honor answered, a faint blush on her cheeks. 

There were several bitten off questioning sounds, one of which - White Haven's - was almost certainly the word "Paul".

Despite the Earl having not actually managed to ask the question, Honor understood. And of all of the questions which they’d been about to ask, that one was probably the simplest and safest of them. She sighed, making the exhalation into a wistful sound of regret. "He was someone I loved and whom Mike liked well enough, that who could have provided us with a solution to the constitutional crisis in which I think I’m about to re-embroil Grayson by coming back alive, Admiral White Haven."

There was a hint of something in the admiral’s emotions at her admission that she had loved a man which Honor was reluctant to examine. It rang, clear and distant, like hope. For a moment she was overwhelm as the emotion swelled, resonating through her. She’d run from this experience with him once before. This time, she was even more certain; she wanted no part of what he was feeling. 

Andrew’s voice cut through the resonance, cancelling it out with his own amusement in a way that made Honor almost slump in her chair with relief. “Then, publicly at least, Benjamin should have been able to hang your key around your daughter’s neck without opposition from the Conclave. Privately he might want to strangle you, my Lady. There’s no two ways about it; you’ve stepped on your sword. Your return is going to be messy almost beyond belief. Up till now he has ruthlessly used the fact you were dead to get the Conclave to forgive your undeclared marriage and a female heir if not born off-world, then conceived off-world. Much as he might want to backpedal, at this point, he can’t stop supporting you without seriously losing face within the Conclave and the people’s esteem.”


End file.
